Red Footed Falcon Vange Marsh RSPB

I'm back. Over 6 months since my last post. A combination of a lack of birding home or abroad and training for a half marathon and marathon has resulted in not a lot of interest to write a post about.

It hasn't been all work and no play. Two weeks ago Hawky and I had a day at Dungeness, Kent, and year ticked Wood Warbler, Black Tern and on the way home saw the Meena form of Oriental Turtle Dove, which one day if split from Orientalis, could be a mega armchair tick.

Yesterday, I was at Abberton Reservoir to get my first tick of the year, a Franklin's Gull. It never came close but provided ok scope views. (BOU 421).

Today turned out to be great. News of 2 Black Winged Stilts at Vange Marsh, just 30 minutes away meant I would do my planned supermarket at the store just 5 minutes from that site and not my local one. Jamie and I (my son now 16) headed off and was on site soon after, the stilts were easy to locate and showed well through the scope. After 30 minutes or so in the supermarket as we left to come home, Hawky calls to ask me if I was still in the areas as a Red Footed Falcon had been found back at Vange Marsh. We were 200 yards away! We parked up and 10 minutes later we were enjoying great views of my 4th Red Foot. This female being my second. We enjoyed cracking views for 30 minutes before heading home to unpack the shopping!